Monday, May 25, 2015

Regardless of whether you sell to the government or to government contractors, you need to be more visible and more credible that your competition to make the short list of preferred vendors. If there is little or nothing that differentiates you from the competition, you will be lost in a very big crowd, overlooked and left behind.Many contractors don't know where or how to differentiate and stand out. One of the most effective ways is to determine what your main product or service is (where you make the most money), study what is going on around that, and start commenting- producing content- on that topic. If you have other differentiators (unique processes,, stellar past performance, leading experts on staff, set-aside status, etc), you can leverage those as well.The fastest growing companies in the government market are producing and sharing content on a regular schedule. Good content will help your company before, during, and after the sales process. A Forester Research study found that 67% of the buying decision is madebefore a customer reached out to a vendor. You need to be a part of the research that buyer is doing.A recent study by Market Connections, Inc found that Feds use content from trusted sources to follow hot topics and trends, get education and training, and to determine current best practices. Feds tend to prefer the contractors that share good content. Developing and sharing content demonstrates your expertise in the areas where you make money.Smaller government contractors often feel at a disadvantage when it comes to generating content, not quite understanding where or how to start.One way to start is to look at faster growing companies, a company like immixGroup (www.immixGroup.com) and see what kind of content they are sharing. immixGroup offers a variety of content: webinars, live events, white papers, blogs, enewsletters and more.

How You Can Start to Stand Out

Where do you start is the next question. LinkedIn groups are a great place to follow, comment on or start conversations, and to do research on what people are talking about. Trade publications and top blogs discuss pressing issues. You need to know what the hot issues are.Faster growing companies know what the issues are and share more pertinent content with customers and prospects. They provide the content as white papers, blogs, case studies, webinars, videos, podcasts, enewsletters and more.The most successful contractors target their content to specific audiences in the decision making process: end-users, influencers, procurement and others. Each piece of content is germane to someone in the buying process, but the content itself is not "salesy" - it is educational. It points the customer toward a solution to a problem.Here are some guidelines to help you get started:- you must be an active student of your market niche and understand the issues that concern the buyers and influencers;- your content must have an educated point of view and offer possible solutions;- your content needs to be delivered in multiple formats: blogs, white papers, webinars, case studies, enewsletters, etc. Select the format that allows you to deliver the content in the way(s) that your audience prefers;- occasionally you will need to get the word out on a breaking story, and you'll need to get it out quickly. The best method for this is a blog;- you need to develop relationships with market influencers and subject matter experts, and the media - those recognized by the market as thought leaders. There are ways to leverage their content to help your sales;- you need to be focused on a single topics when preparing most content. Don't migrate away from your main point;- have key staff members review the content before sharing.If you are interested in growing your business, regardless of whether you sell to the government or to the contracting community, you need to start develooping and sharing pertinent content.Want to get started? Attend-What: B2G Content Marketing WorkshopWhen: 8:00 am- noon, June 10, 2015Where: Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship in Columbia, MDWhy: Because your company needs to develop effective but inexpensive content to drive traffic to your web site, build your network of legitimate prospects and generate quality leads.How: register here - http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=vw6x4hsab&oeidk=a07ea93bzvu5e97751e